Friday, July 30, 2010

If you didn't want people to know about America's Christian heritage, how would you obscure the big picture?

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who can identify the methodology liberal historians use to achieve the divorcing of God from American history.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

Historical Fracturing

Dr. Reagan: One of the things that seems to drive the liberal historians up the wall is the assertion by anyone that this nation was founded as a Christian nation.

Rev. Marshall: Oh, absolutely. Washington and these men were determined to put Biblical principles into practice and they did.

It is virtually impossible in many colleges and universities today to get a decent education in American history because the courses have been politically driven to be narrowed down to silly kinds of focuses on subjects I kiddingly label "The History of Women's Rights in South Dallas," or some such overly focused topic. Fracturing history like this thus leaves us so that we can no longer put together a basic comprehensive understanding of what this nation was really all about. Colleges rarely have courses that focus on the broader brushstrokes of history anymore.

Dr. Reagan: The speed of the abandonment of God in our lifetime and from historical accounts we've seen happen so fast.

Rev. Marshall: Oh, yes, it has deteriorated totally.

Dr. Reagan: I want to get your reaction to this. This is a statement that Earl Warren made to Time Magazine in 1954. He was the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court at that time. If a Justice were to make this statement today there would be an immediate move to impeach him. But, here is what Earl Warren said to Time Magazine:

"I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the Spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses. Whether we look to the First Charter of Virginia or to the Charter of New England or the Charter of Massachusetts Bay, or the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the same objective is present, a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I believe that the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge of our Forefathers had of the Bible and there belief in it. Freedom of belief of expression, of assembly, petition, dignity of the individual, sanctity of the home, equal justice under the law, reservation of powers of the people. I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm will come to this country."

Rev. Marshall: Yes, that is right. As we drift away from those principles and reject them, we are incurring the judgment of Almighty God. I think that is exactly what is going on today in America.

That was an accurate statement of Warren's shared by all kinds of people. Harry Truman said that all the fundamental rights that are built into American government come from Isaiah and Saint Paul. We know he knew perfectly well where those rights all came from — Scripture.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Is what we're learning about American history today actually what happened?

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who has some alarming information about how our history books are no longer telling us what truly happened.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

The Gradual Change

Dr. Reagan: One of the aspects of America pulling away from God is the rewriting of American history.

Rev. Marshall: Right.

Dr. Reagan: You have been on a lot of textbook review committees. Could you give us a sense of how American history is being rewritten?

Rev. Marshall: It started out with the sins of omission, such as the truths about the Christian beliefs of the Founding Fathers, for example, as well as the idea that Christopher Columbus was a committed Christian who was led by the Lord to do what he did because he was a brilliant Bible scholar. All of these things began to be omitted from the history books.

Lately, what we have seen in the last 30-40-50 years, actually, is lies. We see accusations that the Founding Fathers were all Deists, you know unbelievers, not Christian believers, which is flatly untrue. They were Christian believers.

Now what we are seeing are positively wrong statements being made, such as all the Founding Fathers were just a bunch of slave owning hypocrites. This kind of thing is flatly untrue. Some of them were slave holders to be sure. Washington hated slavery and tried three separate schemes to get rid of his slaves, trying to get surrounding planters to take them. His slaves begged him to keep them on Mt. Vernon. Actually, as a matter of fact, when they became aware of what he was trying to do they pleaded, "Nobody will hire us as free blacks around here."

This gradual change in the reporting of actual events in history has left Americans with a skewed view of what our society is based on.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Is the United States in a "Nehemiah Time," and just what does this mean?

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who says that the United States is in just such a time.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

A Time to Rebuild

Rev. Marshall: In the Old Testament we read about the time that the Lord led Nehemiah to come back to the Holy City of Jerusalem from exile and to preside over the rebuilding of the walls of the Holy City. I believe that we are in a time where God is calling on America's Christian believers to rebuild the moral and spiritual foundations of this nation.

Dr. Reagan: Our walls have come down?

Rev. Marshall: Absolutely have, the wild boars are trampling the vineyard here. We are in serious, serious, trouble. We are loosing the moral and spiritual basis of this nation right and left.

Dr. Reagan: What are some manifestations of that?

Rev. Marshall: Oh, good heavens, it is all around us: the increasing obscenity and sexual perversion and so forth that is revealed cinematically on movies and on television, increasing use of the f-word and other obscene language. It is all over the place. Abortion. Increasing corruption in Washington politically. In business, it is all around us. The American public education has just gone down the chute in terms of the loss of any kind of biblical understanding of American history or American civilization or culture. I mean, the examples just abound. They are everywhere!

Dr. Reagan: You and I in our lifetimes have seen this.

Rev. Marshall: Absolutely.

Dr. Reagan: I was born in 1938, you were born in 1940, and when I was growing up I grew up in a society where we studied the Christian heritage at school. We prayed at school. We had Christmas programs at school that focused on the Nativity, and the birth of Jesus. I grew up in a society where your word was your oath. All you had to do was shake hands and that was it. People did not use blasphemous language. You didn't see that in movies. You didn't see it on television, though of course TV didn't exist at that time. But, I have seen it change so radically, so fast. What gets me is how fast it has occurred.

Rev. Marshall: Yes, absolutely. Since the Sexual Revolution in the 1960's, it's gone downhill rapidly. And, of course, there are those famous statistics David Barton and others have pointed out that as soon as the Sexual Revolution was unleashed in the early 60's the statistics on rape, on violence in schools, and all this stuff just soared.

We see our nation crumbling, and like Nehemiah, it is time for Christians to lead in rebuilding.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

How can one know if their government was set up by God in covenant with its people?

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who says not all governments are ordained by God.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

The Covenantal Basis of American Society

Dr. Reagan: In your book you constantly emphasize what you call "the covenantal basis of American society." What do you mean by that concept? Why is it important? And, how does it relate to our Christian heritage?

Rev. Marshall: It is the most important element in American history because the nation was founded by Christian men and women who were in covenant with God through faith in Jesus Christ. God is a covenant-making God. What they believed as Reformed Christians from the Calvinist wing of the Protestant Reformation was that if they would build a society based on these biblical principles in covenant with God, to seek to live in obedience to His commands, and to put the love of Christ into practice, thereby they would be creating a society of justice. If you don't care about your neighbor there is no such thing as justice. So, if they would do that, God would watch out for and protect this nation. I think the history of America amply demonstrates that God has kept His end of the bargain.

Dr. Reagan: Would that be for example the bases of something like the Mayflower Pact?

Rev. Marshall: Absolutely. The Mayflower Compact was this hastily written out one page document creating a new government because the Pilgrims were not going to stay in Massachusetts. They felt by the Lord to stay there, having planned to be under the authority of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia, but the Lord had different plans for them. They weren't going to be under that authority and so they had to set up a new government.

The Pilgrim elders gather in the captain's cabin to create this one page Mayflower Pact. The first sentence says, "In the name of God amen." I used to think, "That is kind of boiler plate, pietistic talk from the 1600's." No, no wrong! That was a specific formula that was used by Puritans whenever they created covenants or constitutions, and they did this continually by the way. It was an announcement to the reader that what they were about to read was a covenant that had been entered into with God Almighty. In other words, what follows is based on our relationship with God. That is why they open it with "In the name of God amen."

Dr. Reagan: There is a document that has been circulating on the Internet for sometime now that is very impressive to me because it gives the opening paragraph of every state constitution, and every one of them speaks about a covenantal relationship to God.

Rev. Marshall: Belief in the Holy Trinity. In fact, in order to vote in the early years of the original Thirteen Colonies, in most of them one had to affirm publicly their belief in the Holy Trinity, but certainly to hold office one had to do that.

Dr. Reagan: You also emphasized in your writings that the only legitimate government is one that is instituted by the consent of the governed.

Rev. Marshall: Yes. The Lord showed me that American government's authority is in terms of giving our free consent, which is rooted in Scripture. Go back to Exodus 24 with the Children of Israel in the Sinai Wilderness. Moses reads the 10 Commandments of God to them, and then there is a ratification ceremony — a covenant — a sealing into the covenant by blood where Moses takes the blood of the sacrifice and he says, "Here is the Word of God, the Commandments of God. Do you accept this?" The people say, "Yes, we will, we commit, we pledge to live by these commandments." Then Moses takes the blood of the lamb and it is sprinkled by the priest on the people so they are sealed into the covenant. Now, at the moment when they've said, "we will obey these laws," they are giving their consent to be governed by the revealed Word of God.

So, all true government, all righteous government, is based on the consent of the governed, because God governs us only by our consent. He is not a tyrant. He doesn't Lord it over people. That is Satan's project, but God doesn't govern that way. So, the point is relevant for today. Any government which does not govern by the consent of the governed is an ungodly government by definition. It is satanic government. I am talking about China, Cuba, the Sudan and a lot of other places in the world.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Did America's Founding Fathers actually set up a government wary of mankind's fallen nature?

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who has some startling insights into why the United States' government has so many checks and balances.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

The Orthodox Christian Founding Fathers

Dr. Reagan: How many of the Founding Fathers were true Orthodox Christians? Do you want to mention some other names?

Rev. Marshall: Well, Patrick Henry, I mean good heavens, Patrick Henry was a strong Evangelical Christian. These guys, many of them were not just Christian believers, but they were Evangelicals in modern terminology.

Dr. Reagan: So, they were interested in bringing people to Christ?

Rev. Marshall: Oh, yes, heavens yes! Roger Sherman of Connecticut wrote the Creed for his local church in New Haven. He was a Calvinist Theologian who loved to write theology tracks. In the new edition of The Light and the Glory, I have an appendix in the back where I talk about the Christian faith of other Founding Fathers. I just randomly picked 15 or 16 of these guys. One of them was a hymn composer.

These guys preached. There are many, many, many sermons from Founding Fathers. They were busy preaching on Sunday mornings.

Dr. Reagan: So, the argument that the Founding Fathers were not Orthodox Christians is simply a lie?

Rev. Marshall: It is ridiculous. It is simply, flatly untrue.

Belief in the Innate Evil of Man

Dr. Reagan: I have always believed that one of the fundamental differences between a Liberal and a Conservative is their view of the nature of man. The Liberal believes man is basically good and capable of perfection, and the Conservative says, "No, he is innately evil and fallen and we must face that reality." Our Founding Fathers faced that reality, didn't they?

Rev. Marshall: Because they were believers in the Word of God, they knew their Bibles. The Bible is clear about the fact that the nature of man is sinful and fallen, that is why we need a Savior. That is why Jesus had to come and die on Calvary's cross. To that point they set up a government with checks and balances to create a balance of power.

Dr. Reagan: They didn't even trust themselves.

Rev. Marshall: Right! No single human being can be entrusted with absolute authority because of that person's sinfulness. They would use it wrongly sooner or later. That is why the Founding Fathers rejected monarchy and that is why America does not have kings and queens or oligarchy. We have a system of checks and balances.

Montesquieu of France, whom they relied on a great deal, was a Christian philosopher of civil government. He was well aware of the sinfulness of man, which is why he wrote about the balance of powers, which is what they put into practice.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.

Friday, July 23, 2010

How could America's Founding Fathers say they were Christian and not abolish slavery?

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who has tackled one of the most haunting questions in American history.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

The Founding Fathers on Slavery

Dr. Reagan: The Founding Fathers are often attacked as hypocrites because they talked about liberty and they talked about freedom, yet some of them were slave holders.

Rev. Marshall: Right. Samuel Johnson the great British essayist said, "What is this yelping about freedom that I hear on the other side of the Atlantic from these slave drivers?"

There was some hypocrisy there. The Founding Fathers were well aware of that. The New England delegates, particularly the Adams' from Massachusetts and New Hampshire and so forth were absolutely determined to not have slavery in the New Republic.

The problem was that (particularly we write about this in my second book From Sea to Shining Sea) the South Carolina and Georgia delegates said, "Listen, our entire economy is based on slavery. We will never be able to get this Constitution ratified. We won't be able to be part of the Union unless there are some provision for slavery." And so, the compromise was that the word "slavery" never appears in the Constitution.

The importation of slaves was finally prohibited 25 years later. They really hoped, as Franklin put it, "Put it on the road to extinction." They hoped that what would happen would be that the American people would get rid of it, which is why the word does not appear in the Constitution, because they were writing that document for all of eternity. They knew that. They were very conscious of the role they were playing on the stage of world history. The Northern delegates were absolutely committed to getting rid of slavery, but the problem was they couldn't get the Southern delegates to agree, so there had to be a compromise.

This conflict in American history was not resolved until Appomattox. It took a Civil War because the Church would not deal with it. But, the Founding Fathers were well aware of that conflict and tried to get rid of it, but were not able to.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Were America's Founding Fathers all Deists, believing God wound up the world and then left, or were they primarily orthodox in their Christian faith?

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who has studied the writings of America's Founding Fathers which reveals their innermost faith.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

The Faith of the Founding Fathers

Dr. Reagan: Peter, I want to talk a moment about the Founding Fathers. In recent years they have fallen on hard times. People have attributed every vile motive to them that you can possibly imagine, and one of the things that the revisionist historians are really pounding on is that these men were not Orthodox Christians but that they were all Deists. Now respond to that, but first of all explain to us what a Deist is.

Rev. Marshall: The closest modern equivalent of a Deist would be a Unitarian, but bear in mind that Unitarians back in the 18th Century were closer to a belief in Jesus than they are today. John Adam's for example might be able to be legitimately characterized as a Unitarian back in those days. But, most of the Founding Fathers, the vast majority of them, probably well over 90% of the Founding Fathers according to my research, were Christian believers.

Dr. Reagan: We know that absolutely from their writings and speeches, don't we?

Rev. Marshall: Oh, yes. Here is an interesting little statistic of the roughly 250 men who deserve the title "Founding Father." 40% of these men were not only members of varies Bible Societies in America, but office holders. 40%! There was the national American Bible Society, there were state Bible Societies in the original colonies, there were cities like Baltimore which had a Bible Society, and roughly 2/5 of the Founding Fathers were office holders. Now, you didn't become an office holder in a Bible Society unless number one you revered the Bible as the Word of God, and number two you were committed to spreading it as the Word of God throughout American society. And, that is who these guys were.

Samuel Adams, for example was a strong evangelical Christian. Even secular historians call him "the Father of the American Revolution." King George III referred to the Revolution as "Mr. Adam's War." He was personally held responsible for creating it. He was a strong, strong evangelical believer.

The Faith of George Washington

Dr. Reagan: What about a person like George Washington? Was he an Orthodox Christian?

Rev. Marshall: Washington was definitely an Orthodox Christian. Bottom line on Washington is he was a typical 18th Century Low Church (meaning evangelical) Low Church Virginian Anglican. He was very, very reticent, very unwilling to talk about his personal belief, which is why he is a difficult case for historians because it is not easy to pin him down. But, if you look at the evidence for the man's Christian faith, it is overwhelming.

Washington made over 200 separate Biblical references in all his writings — over 200! 270 times he uses the words "Divine Providence." Now, this was not some big sort of "may the force be with you kind of thing," okay. When he used the word "Providence" he meant a Heavenly Father who was personally involved in His creation and with His creatures. It is clearly demonstrated, for example, when he used that phrase "to find providence" in a letter to the Hebrew congregation in Savannah, Georgia. What he says in that letter is, "May that same divine providence who was with your forefathers in the Red Sea crossing and performed the miracle of delivering them from slavery in Egypt, be also with you, and so forth." So, he is referring to the biblical God who intervenes.

Dr. Reagan: One of the things that impressed me which I ran across in your book The Light and the Glory was that when Washington became the commanding General of the Revolutionary forces. One of the very first orders he issued was for his men to go to church.

Rev. Marshall: "The General expects and requires that all..."

Dr. Reagan: Requires

Rev. Marshall: "...all officers and men not engaged in actual duty shall attend Divine services." He also reminded them to bring their muskets to church with them, just in case.

Dr. Reagan: Yes, and he also prohibited any blasphemous language.

Rev. Marshall: Oh, he was death on swearing. He hated it. One time his officers were dining with him in New York City before they evacuated. It was early in the war and they didn't know him that well yet. One of the officers swore at the table. Washington loudly dropped his fork and silence descended on the room. He looked around the room and said one thing. He said, "I had supposed that all of us in this room were gentlemen." No officer ever again swore in his presence. It never happened again. His men revered him because of his commitment to them and his obvious strong, moral leadership.

The Question Over Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin

Dr. Reagan: The modern revisionist historians often just make a sweeping statement that all the Founding Fathers were Deists, and then they immediately go to Thomas Jefferson to prove it. They'll say, "Look at Thomas Jefferson. Here was a man who rewrote the New Testament. He took out all the miracles like the Resurrection."

Rev. Marshall: It is true. Jefferson was a rationalist, but the thing is Jefferson was an exception among the Founding Fathers.

Rev. Marshall: Ben Franklin was kind of on the fence. There are quotes from Franklin that might lead you to think he was a Christian.

Dr. Reagan: Like when he insisted they start praying at the Convention?

Rev. Marshall: Oh, yes, Franklin was responsible. The Holy Spirit has to have anointed his words, I mean, they are really divinely inspired when you read them. The Scriptures tell us that not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without His notice.

At the Convention Franklin said, "Can an Empire arise without His aid?" That question broke the deadlock. That was the July 4th weekend — our country's anniversary — which the delegates to the Constitutional Convention then celebrated in Philadelphia. They went to church and heard a very strong message about God's hand in the Revolution, and when they came back they reconvened and that deadlock was broken. I think Franklin had a key part in breaking that.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Did the Pilgrims come to America because of religious persecution, or for a higher purpose?

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who understands what motivated the Pilgrims to come to the New World.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

The Truth About the Pilgrims

Dr. Reagan: Another thing that I found very interesting in your book The Light and the Glory had to do with the Pilgrims and their motivation for coming to this country. I was always taught (of course you are not taught anything about the Pilgrims today in school), but when I was growing up I was taught that they came to this country to escape religious persecution.

Rev. Marshall: Yes, I was too. We all were.

Dr. Reagan: But, that wasn't their motivation?

Rev. Marshall: No, again when you do the research, when you look into what these people say, what you find out is that they were missionaries. All you have to do is read the most famous quote from the pen of William Bradford who was the great chronicler and perennially re-elected governor. He said, "They had a great hope and an inward zeal of advancing the cause of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ and those remotes parts of the earth. Yet, even though they should be but a stepping stones unto others for the performing of so great a work."

So, they were missionaries. They weren't running away from anything, but coming in the response to the call of Jesus on their lives to implement the Gospel and create this just society. Because, as adherence of the reformed faith of the Calvinist wing of the Protestant Reformation, they understood that what Scripture teaches is that we Christian believers are to take the Gospel of Christ into every area of society in whatever nation we find ourselves, wherever we are located.

Dr. Reagan: And that was a guiding principle all through the early history of this country, wasn't it?

Rev. Marshall: Absolutely! America was to be this miraculous new opportunity provided by God to Christian believers as heirs of the English Protestant Reformation to implement the Gospel and create a society that would really be a beacon of hope to the rest of the world. They knew that human beings aren't doomed to have to live together raping and murdering and slaughtering one another, but that God has a better way. That is really why America was founded.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

In a Christ in Prophecy series titled "America's Christian Heritage," Dr. David Reagan interviews a historian who emphatically believes God had such a plan, beginning from as far back as Christopher Columbus.

For over forty years the Rev. Peter Marshall has gained national recognition as a teacher and writer on America's Christian heritage. Because he believes that our nation is in moral and spiritual crisis and that the only hope for restoration is revival, his increasingly prophetic ministry focuses on two major themes — recovering the original American vision with the truth about our Christian heritage, and putting 2 Chronicles 7:14 on national repentance into practice.

Son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall, Rev. Marshall has devoted himself to a continent-wide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. He has co-authored three best-selling books about God's call on America and His hand on our history — The Light and The Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet. His ministry is called Peter Marshall Ministries.

The Original Founding Vision

Dr. Reagan: On page 19 of the new edition of your book The Light and the Glory, you say, "Our basic premise is that God had a definite and discoverable plan for America and it was confirmed many times over albeit occasionally with surprising twists."

Rev. Marshall: The evidence shows that the original Christian settlers who came to this nation, particularly in New England with the Pilgrims and the Puritans, had a vision to put the Gospel of Jesus Christ into practice in the New World, on a new continent, 3,000 miles away from anybody who could prevent them, and to create a society based on the Biblical principles of self government, in that we govern ourselves first in obedience to God. We then are to put Christ's Second Great Commandment into practice to love our neighbors as ourselves. In other words, if people took the Bible seriously and put those Biblical principles into practice, they could create a society that would have liberty and justice for every soul. That is the original founding vision for this nation.

The Real Christopher Columbus

Dr. Reagan: In modern times that vision has fallen on hard times. We have the revisionist historians today. One of the persons that they seem to have zeroed in on is Christopher Columbus, the fellow who opened up this part of the world to Europe. He was a hero in American history for many years and yet today he is viewed as a villain, as a barbarian who should have never have come here and it was a tragic mistake that he ever did. They say he was just a greedy guy who was looking for gold. What is the truth about Christopher Columbus?

Rev. Marshall: What you have been expressing, of course, is the politically correct view of Columbus. Very few people that are committed to that kind of politically correct view ever have looked into the life of the man. They know nothing about him. It is simply a political project.

But, the truth is when you do the research on him what you find out is that he was not only a committed Christian, but he was a brilliant Bible scholar able to read the Old Testament in Hebrew the New Testament in Greek. He was a Third Order Lay Franciscan, which was unusual for a clergyman or for a priest in pre-Reformation Europe, never mind a layman. A Third Order Lay Franciscan wore the brown Franciscan habit, which he wore the last three years of his life. Actually, interestingly enough, Columbus was involved in a charismatic renewal movement among the Franciscans.

Dr. Reagan: I know he was also a student of Bible Prophecy.

Rev. Marshall: Oh, yes, in fact he was soaked in Bible Prophecy, especially the books of Daniel, Isaiah, and Revelation. Of his book on prophecies, 84 pages of the originals in his own handwriting are in the Cathedral Library in Seville in Spain. Columbus wrote them out in his own handwriting. Most of it is biblical passages that he felt applied to him. For example, Isaiah 55 I think it is where it says, "The far distant isles wait for my law."

Dr. Reagan: Didn't he actually write in his diary or log that he felt led of the Holy Spirit to come here?

Rev. Marshall: In that book of prophecies and in one of his letters he says, "I could feel it was the Lord who put it into my mind. I could feel His hand upon me... the fact that it would be possible to sail from here, Europe to the Indies." Then he said, "All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me," which you know we learned in grade school. Here is the next sentence, "There is no question the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures." I didn't learn that in grade school, and I don't think many of us did either.

Dr. Reagan: I suspect that his strong Christian commitment may be one of the reasons he is being so severely attacked today in a society that is becoming increasingly secular.

Rev. Marshall: Yes, absolutely! What he has become is a political football that is being kicked around by the Native American Indian lobbyist and so forth. He has become the symbol or sort of the poster boy for villainy for the European Age of Discovery in the America's. He gets blamed for everything. Most of the atrocities that took place in Latin America were committed after he died.

Resource

America's Christian Heritage DVDExplore America's Christian heritage!America's Christian Heritage is a 70-minute interview of the Reverend Peter Marshall, historian and author of the book The Light and the Glory and son of the famous Senate chaplain Dr. Peter Marshall and Catherine Marshall, author of the Christy novels.